‘Future bright’ after successful St Kitts-Nevis Summer Safety Programme

The deputy fire chief of the St Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services has said that he is excited about the future of the Summer Safety Programme, which finished last Friday with a street march and closing ceremony.

This year was the 15th time the annual programme has been held, and was expanded to five half-day sessions instead of the usual three.

Close to 600 children, aged five to 12, learnt about safety practices in the areas of fire, water, disaster, traffic and crime and violence.

The growth of the initiative and the positive results prompted Delta Petroleum Ltd to raise its sponsorship from $3,000 to $4,000 for the next two years, and $5,000 for the following five year period.

“They [Delta Petroleum] have set a foundation for us to move forward,” Deputy Fire Chief Abdias Samuel said.

“The money will allow us to be more innovative and creative in the ways we share the information with the children.

“We will also look at introducing a tiered programme where we have advancing levels of information. So if you enter the programme you will be at a beginner’s stage and the following years you will move up.”

Samuel added that they intend to add field trips to future Summer Safety Programmes and also increase the number of participants and daily take home materials so the information can be shared with others outside of the initiative.

In addition to increased funding, Delta Petroleum’s Regional general manager Bevis Sylvester, promised that a company official will play a greater role in the summer programme by interacting closely with organisers to introduce new concepts and facilitating sessions with participants during the 2018 event.